Gorgeous. Fearless.
Dangerous. They're the kind of girls you envy; the kind of girls you want to
hate. Strangers in town for the summer, Penn, Lexi and Thea have caught
everyone's attention—but it’s Gemma who’s attracted theirs. She’s the one
they’ve chosen to be part of their group.

Gemma seems to have it all—she’s carefree, pretty, and falling in love with
Alex, the boy next door. He’s always been just a friend, but this summer
they’ve taken their relationship to the next level, and now there’s no going
back. Then one night, Gemma’s ordinary life changes forever. She’s
taking a late night swim under the stars when she finds Penn, Lexi and Thea
partying on the cove. They invite her to join them, and the next morning
she wakes up on the beach feeling groggy and sick, knowing something is
different.

Suddenly Gemma is stronger, faster, and more beautiful than ever. But her new
powers come with a terrifying price. And as she uncovers the truth, she’s
is forced to choose between staying with those she loves—or entering a new
world brimming with dark hungers and unimaginable secrets.

I’ll be honest -
the beautiful cover of Wake is what initially drew me to the book. I
didn’t know much about the book before I read it, but I’d seen dozens of other
bloggers talking about it, so I was curious.

Unfortunately - and
I really do hate to say this - the cover was one of the only things I liked
about Wake.

I didn’t really
like Gemma or Harper, nor was I able to connect with them. I didn’t feel like
there was much depth to them, and neither of them really developed as
characters. Gemma’s love of the water was pretty much the only thing that
defined her, and Harper’s domineering personality was a bit much to take at
times. At one point Gemma called her sister ‘a bossy, know-it-all control freak’
and that pretty much sums it up.

Daniel was pretty
much the only character I liked, and that was really only because he had more
personality than any of the others. Alex was okay, but I got tired of hearing
about how he’d gone from a geek to a total hottie practically overnight without
anyone noticing, as if he wasn’t worth noticing until he
became hot.

The pacing of the
book was really slow, and I thought Hocking probably could have written one
really good book instead of breaking this into a trilogy. Not much happened in
Wake - in fact, it felt like the book was mostly made up of dialogue, and I
found myself skimming a lot. What little there was about siren mythology was interesting, but I wish it had been expanded upon.

Overall, Wake
just didn’t do it for me. I wasn’t able to connect with the characters or the
story, and I felt like I waited most of the book for something - anything
- to happen. If you enjoy stories about mermaids/sirens or mythology, this book
might be for you.

2.5 stars

Have you read Wake? What did you think? Do you enjoy books that weave in elements of mythology?

3 comments:

I've heard mixed reviews about this one myself. It's too bad with all the hype there was built up about this series. I'm not sure if I'll read it or not, I don't like characters with no depth. The story sounds interesting, but I think I'd rather give Switched a chance more and finish the My Blood Approves series.

It's gotten pretty bad reviews on GoodReads, but I was curious. It just really fell flat for me. I enjoyed Switched more, but didn't love it...I'll carry on with that series though, but probably not the Watersong series. Always interested to see what you think, though!

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